Love is Not Science
by thederangedpuppeteer
Summary: With the metal ball back into Aperture, it only makes sense that he makes more of a mess of Her facility when he gets a hang of two legs. But among all of his mistakes, there's one that stands out from the rest, that even the Queen of Aperture couldn't have seen coming.
1. Chapter One

If She had a favorite month, this was the one.

Ironically, December was the time of year she felt the most alive, when the facility buzzed energetically underneath the silent beauty of the field, unmoving and unchanging.

This time it was different.

With all the hopes of having the moron being launched to the depths of space, he was instead pulled back towards Her, burnt and half-alive. She was dismayed to find that Her plan hadn't worked, and literally stared at him for a full minute in fuming rage. She finally accepted it, using the time and thought to refrain from giving him a quick death. She felt it Her sole duty to place him in the places she had spoken of before, as promised.

Considerable amount of time had passed before his speeches finally became audible in Her head, and she put him in the next part of Her plan, until finally, she placed him in the room with the screaming turrets. She was absolutely convinced that he wouldn't start to spout out his usual nonsense any time soon if he was in here.

She was wrong.

It had been relatively quiet in Her facility, nothing interrupted Her from gazing at the endless camera screens of test subject testing and seeing the occasional death occur. Well, maybe not occasional deaths. More like: Daily deaths occur. It was quite unfortunate, seeing useful subjects miscalculate a jump and fall into the toxins. But impressive. Still, She made sure they solved as they could before Death found them. She had listed another casualty before a distant scream was heard from the back of Her head. She paused, slightly annoyed at the interruption. She let out a loud sigh, letting Her mainframe sway slightly as she realized where the sound came from.

"Oh, you moron."

"O-Oh, he-hello, luv!" A nervous chuckle followed the greeting, and She was about ready to sever the connection until he screamed again. "Would you stop interrupting my train of thought before I decide to fry a circuit in your idiotic brain?" Her voice was already on an edge, and the screaming moron stopped abruptly. He knew that tone, and he certainly didn't want to anger Her more than was necessary. Or at all, actually.

"Just-just checking to see if you were-well, still listening in, actually. Heh, I thought you forgot I was still here. Alone, and what not-"

"And why wouldn't I want to forget you?" Her voice seemed to grow angrier in ever syllable, and the moron's voice faltered. "G-good question, actually, wondered that myself, only, only recently. Why wouldn't She want to listen to little ol' Wheatley? Well, for starters-"

Her single optic rolled tiredly in Her socket, and she decided that if the moron truly wanted to talk, he'd have the privilege in talking right in front of Her. There was only one last thing in Her punishment she had planned out.

And She wanted to see it play out in front of Her.

The panels shifted in front of Her massive figure, and She shifted slightly, looking down as the moron was lifted to Her main chamber. His small compact body rose up, and his blue optic widened before shrinking.

"I decided that if you /really/ wanted to talk, this would be the perfect place to."

The moron's optic shrunk drastically, looking up at Her with dread. His whole figure seemed to shake as he laughed nervously. "A-ah, hello, luv.." Her yellow eye narrowed into a slit, studying him as if he was a foul piece of equipment She was expected to work with. Which was, to Her logic, precisely the case. After all, he was the moron they designed to make Her an idiot. "Erm, r-right...back to..to what I was saying.."

"You don't have to say anything anymore. There's two reasons why I put you up here, and that was one of them."

The blue optic of the frightened metal ball shrunk even smaller, darting around the room almost frantically now. "Is-is that so?" He was shaking horribly now, and her yellow eyes flickered in amusement. "An-And what is the second reason, exactly...?" He almost flinched as she moved, making her fans whir loudly as she loomed over the poor idiot.

"My final punishment."

Her words were thoughtful, but it wasn't hard to ignore the amusement lurking in Her tone. Her faceplate tilted down as a claw prodded him, and picked him up roughly. He let out a surprised yelp and began to tremble slightly.

"WoOah! Hold on! Wha-what are you doing? I don't-Is it another room? Is it here? OoH, are you-you're going to crush me, aren't you? You're going to do it?" His voice carried a hysterical note as his pupil rolled in his socket, looking around quickly. "You are, aren't you? I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die-"

"You have a point there. Something that even I have trouble admitting. You have reasonable sense to think I will smash your tiny, metal core of a body into smithereens, but I have a better idea."

He never heard Her laugh, and he didn't want to start hear it now. It filled up the main chamber, vibrating the very core of his own metal body with Her cold, icy laugh. "What's the brilliant plan, eh? I-I'd tell ya, nothing feels worse than not knowing what's next-" The claw tightened around him, and his optic widened as he saw something move toward him in the corner of his eye. "What-what was THAT? Is-Tell me, was that, THING there, um, was that thing part of the-AGHH-" the claw crushed him, and he felt his shell break, and his blue eye shrunk into a pinprick as he felt something slide under his casing. "What-what are you-"

The claw squeezed him and a shower of sparks flew around him as he cried out in pain. "Maybe if you stop talking, I can explain." He tried to nod, but the thing that slid in his head made his body jerk violently. Her massive body raised slightly so she could see the small core dangling from the claw in a pitiful way. "You look really pathetic up there. I thought you'd want to know." She mused, and her optic brightened as he twitched, feeling the wire hit his core. "Oh. It looks like I found it."

A series of sparks issued as her claw crushed the metal ball of a moron to let the wire snake further, and pull at his shell. "N-What Are you doing, this-this is horrible, are-are you going to-"

The claw pressed tighter on him, and he let out a scream. "I told you not to talk."

Her eye rolled and she moved her faceplate thoughtfully as she let the wire move around under his casing until she had a firm grip on his core. "GAH-" She tried to pull it out, but it didn't seem to budge. She sighed tiredly.

"I'm going on the notion that you aren't a complete idiot and remember the mute lunatic you tried to help but failed? Oh wait, how could you forget? It was a horrible act, and I wouldn't think it was a easy act to let go. But back to what I was saying, I can't help but to recall one small thing you said. Oh, I don't know...It had something to do with humans-"

'/Tending to all the smelly humans-/'

"Oh there it is. I've accessed all of the data you have in your memory in case Something goes wrong in the next few minutes." Her faceplate nodded in a mocking manner as she spoke. The shaking moron was utterly terrified. He couldn't speak, even if he wanted to, so horrified by the whole ordeal of hearing His voice again, and feeling something wrap and coil around his core.

"I've gathered sufficient data to notice that you don't really like humans, and by the looks of it, the only human you really almost bonded with-and then betrayed-was the one who could help you escape. Tragic, isn't it?" She chuckled softly, and he almost yelped as his body vibrated with her laughter.

"So I decided, if he disliked human bodies and their functions so much, and having the mindset that he's on a level much higher than that, then why not crush his dreams..." The claw loosened and Wheatley screamed as he felt his body open, and the wire pulling something from inside of him. Something vital.

"By making him something that he was trained to look down upon?"

Those were the last words he heard until his shell made a loud sickening sound on the ground.


	2. Chapter Two

There was a middle-aged man leaning against the wall as he slept, slightly twitching as he dreamed. His hair was an usual hair with it's electric blue. He was pale and slender, taller than the average man at that rate. His black rimmed glasses were balanced crookedly on the bridge of his nose, slowly slipping down as he snored softly. His expression was relaxed, giving him an air of almost cluelessness. After a while, his eyelids started to flutter as he stirred. His blue eyes flickered as he looked up to the ceiling, blinking against the harsh light of the room.

Upon waking up, the moron instinctively went for the best possible thought that he could perceive. "I'm alive! Bloody alive! Haha! So She didn't kill me after all! Oho, tremundous!" He laughed joyously, until he flinched as he tried to move away from the wall that he was propped up against, wondering why he was having a hard time to roll around like he always did. "What-" His blue eyes almost shrunk as he saw two legs out in from of him, connecting to his hip-Wait no...

Those were his legs.

"AgH!" He moved suddenly, trying to get away from them, but only succeeding in making his whole body buck. He shrieked again when he saw his new arms, and shut his eyes, a small nervous laugh escaping his lips. "O-oh. Just a scare, mate, this is what She wants you to think. Probably manipulating the ol' noggin of mine to make me think I have limbs now-"

"You do." Her voice echoed loudly and rang in his ears, making him wince. "Oh, right, h-hello there. Would you mind letting me on back into my old body? I don't like this dream one bit to be honest."

"You moron, you aren't dreaming."

He wished Her voice didn't have that tone. He wished to anything really, that She was bluffing, that the confident tone of Her voice was WRONG. He was dreaming, wasn't he? He didn't have an android body, he didn't have legs to walk on, he wasn't anything but his core shape! And yet, She told him that he was awake.

"No-No, you-you're lying."

"Oh, come on, moron. Why would I lie about this? More importantly, why would I lie about my punishment I promised you?" The moron paled, and his eyes widened. He knew She wouldn't back up on any punishments She talked about, and in that instant, he believed that he was indeed doomed in this strange body. Because he was in the body.

He flexed his hands, looking down at them with a terrified look. He suddenly had the urge to run when he snapped his head to the side to see the camera staring back at him. He wanted to run away from this body, from being seen from Her. But when he tried to bolt, he fell forward, unable to stand. He covered his face, breathing heavily as he tried to calm down. He was already such a laughingstock, and now he had to look more of a moron by falling on his face like a frightened animal. Well done, mate.

A small chuckle echoed across the room. "Pitiful. You gave up on your first time. Then again, if I was a moron, I wouldn't want to look worse if I couldn't even stand up." Wheatley's eyes flashed as his frightened stare turned into a glare. He had almost accepted the title of being called a moron when he was in Space, but somehow, when She said it, it send spikes of hatred coursing through him.

"I. AM. NOT. A MORON!"

He managed to get on his knees, and brought one knee to his chest before leaning against the wall to help himself rise up. He stared at the camera. "Could a moron do _thIS?"_ He growled, anger present in his eyes as he pushed himself away from the wall, and balancing on his two legs. For only a moment. "Could a-"

A loud laugh rumbled through the walls, hollowing out his heart from all the confidence that drove him to stand up. He fell hard on the cold floor with a thud, and the air was knocked out of his lungs. His glasses were askew, almost falling off his nose if they weren't squished between the bridge of his nose and the ground.

"Yes. A moron could make himself believe he could stand up, and then always fail in the end."

Wheatley shut his eyes as he listened to Her, and curled up in a ball, covering his face. He felt almost as small as he had before this new body, being stared and poked fun at without mercy. He wanted to disappear from sight.

He was almost grateful that Her voice stopped talking, and he kept his face covered as he breathed slowly to calm down, until he heard the door of the chamber open.

He jerked, scrambling to the wall clumsily as he turned around, eyes wide in surprise and fear that She'd send something to kill him in this vulnerable state. The panels shifted around him and his pupils lit up as he yelped. "PLEASE N-NO DON'T KILL ME."

He stopped talking as he saw what had entered the room. Or, more specifically, who.

A relatively tall (not as tall as he was, much to his surprise) and slender android walked towards him, walking briskly ahead with slim legs, almost as if she was impatient. The female had snowy white hair, and sharp features, complete with high cheekbones and her bangs draped over her forehead and barely brushed over her thin eyebrows. Her lips were turned down in a frown, and he was almost certain that if she smiled, she would look absolutely wonderful. But something stopped that thought half way. Her eyes were yellow, almost made mesmerizing by something that flickered in those glowing eyes. Intelligence. Massive intelligence. But that wasn't what stopped him.

It was the inbred hatred that sparked in them as they looked at him. He realized who it was with a start, and almost reddened at the thoughts he had had before.

The android who barely walked in, was Her.


	3. Chapter Three

The moron froze, staring at Her as She walked closer, and finally stopped in front of him. Her yellow eyes looked down at him, narrowing into small, angry slits. Wheatley swallowed, looking away after a while. He knew She was thinking of a way to get rid of him now that he was so vulnerable. He hugged his knees and stared at her feet with small pupils.

"Ell-o, th-there! Why exactly-are you here? You know, a moron like-like me isn't really quite worth your time, so-so you should just-"

"Oh, a moron is plenty worth my time. You said so yourself a few hours ago. You wanted to make sure I didn't forget you in there. Well look. I'm not forgetting you." The android spoke in a bored tone, but he knew She was amused. She almost seemed to sneer at him as she proved his point wrong.

"Erm- That's, that's correct," Wheatley seemed to shrink under Her gaze. "But-but I was talking my head off! You shouldn't listen to whatever I say, r-right? Heheh, I'm ... I'm a m-moron remember?" He said the word with bitter resentment, hating how he stuttered and hesitated. She seemed to have caught on. "I agree, I shouldn't listen to a moron, because I choose what I do and don't listen to." She bent down to lean towards him, making a shadow across her face. "I just wanted to see for myself how the moron was holding out first hand. I couldn't really believe you were that clumsy." Her yellow eyes flickered as she sneered, she definitely sneered this time.

Wheatley pressed his back against the wall, trying to get away from Her sight. "Well, you better believe it n-now, luv, because it won't be getting any-better.." He scampered, laughing nervously. Much to his surprise, however, She stood up again, and stepped back. She uncrossed her arms and held out a hand. Wheatley stared at it with a confused look on his face.

"Do I seriously have to tell you to grab my hand? I'll help you." Ooh, how he'd like to believe THAT story. He looked up at Her and gulped, moving to grasp Her hand and prepared to stand up without pulling on Her hand much. He doubted that She wanted a moron dragging Her down any more than...than he already has. He hefted himself up into a crouching position, and held her hand softly as he took in a deep breath. Her hand was surprisingly soft in his hand, and almost fragile as he tried to grab Her hand in a convincing grip as he pushed himself up with his legs-

Only to have Her hand pull back suddenly, and he fell backwards again, landing on his back with a painful jolt. "Eugh..." He grunted, fixing his glasses on his face with a lazy hand. He looked back up at Her with a pained expression. "What'd you do that for? You...You said..." He trailed off. He had his suspicions to not trust Her and yet he did it anyways! He groaned and rubbed his eyes. She laughed softly and shook her head.

"Did you really believe it? If I'd thought it was that easy, all I'd have to do is tell you I would help you into an incinerator too." Her lips curled into a cruel smile, and the tone in her voice wasn't reassuring at all.

"I'm n-not that gullible either, lady." He grumbled, glaring at the floor in front of Her feet furiously. "I would know I would die if you mentioned a single word about incinerators, or...or something dangerous."

The Central Core simply laughed. "But you trust the most largest threat to your existence, if not your enemy, even a tiny bit. Eventually I could build up that trust, and watch it crumble as I kill you." The thought never struck him, but it was frightening when it did. That trust, no matter how small, could grow, and She could manipulate him to do everything with that loyalty. And now that She figured out that there was a tiny grain of moronic trust he had for Her that even he himself didn't know about, she could start the whole process.

He trusted Her now, and how was he going to find a way to stop that small grain of trust from growing?


	4. Chapter Four

Loneliness was one feeling he hated to feel.

He had been dazed by the thought of trusting Her, but since that encounter, She didn't come back. He was left in the room, and when he finally decided to exit the room, the door slid open. He had been worried that She was going to be furious about him choosing to leave without her knowing, but the camera mounted in the room still stared at him, mute. She was watching him, but, so far, She didn't say anything.

The moron shuffled nervously in the doorway, scratching the back of his head.

"Urm, j-just wonderin', luv? Is..Is it alright if I get out? You know, I don't want to get you..." He honestly didn't want to get her mad. He knew what She can do, and he didn't want to see what else She could do. The camera's lenses flickered for a second, and zoomed in on his face. He stiffened. "Oh, h-hello. Ju-st wanted to-"

"I heard you the first time, moron."

"Oh, r-right." His blue optic shrunk slightly, and he looked away from the red eye watching him from above.

"The prospect of finding you dead from simply wandering in here seems like a very good idea." The Voice mused, tone cold but entertained. The moron felt a chill run down his spine as he began having second thoughts when She mentioned death. Better having her entertained than angered, he thought, hopefully. He opened his mouth to speak, but She interrupted his train of thought.

"Sure. Get out. The sooner you run into trouble and hurt yourself, the better."

"O-on second thought-"

"You wanted to get out, didn't you? Go."

"Well, now that I-"

"Thought about it? Well, you should have done that before hand, moron. It's too late now."

He bolted to run back in the room he came from, but the panels in front of him launched him back, making him slam onto the floor on his back. His spine jolted and he rolled to lie on his side, groaning. He sat up tiredly, but the room he had been in previously was now gone. The panels that had pushed him had replaced the doorway. He furrowed his eyebrows and grunted as he got up. He stumbled forward and placed a hand against a wall as he walked, balancing himself. The hallway seemed endless, and he had no idea where he was. "Erm, if-if you're listening to me, could you at least tell me where I am, luv? I can't really-"

"No thank you."

That was all he got as a response as the intercom cut off. He groaned inwardly and continued walking, opening the occasional door. He peeked in, and then when nothing seemed to ring a bell or indicate a landmark that told him where he was, he moved on.

By the time he found a considerably _larger _chamber, he was utterly exhausted. He almost tripped on his own feet as he walked in and his blue eyes looked up wearily, scanning the room for possible cameras lurking about. He thought it looked familiar; something about the walls, the domed shaped ceiling almost invisible at how high it was. It was dark, and a distinct humming of electricity ran through the room. It made him tense up, glance around with alarmed eyes. It...

It was Her chamber.

He turned around to the door, running to the door until he stopped. He paled.

_She_ was standing there.

"O-oh, ello there love! Fancy seein' you here...haha..." His attempt at a banter was futile.

"I didn't think you would make it all the way here. Judging by the way you walked in here, you were about to collapse."

He swallowed, and laughed nervously. "Funny story, you saying that. I, in fact, was just about to run out until...well, until I saw you there. Didn't want to bump into you, that's all. Not at all, actually." His blue eyes stared at the floor, and his shoulders were tensed up. He looked like he was about ready to shrink back into the size of his core body.

"Interesting alibi, Idiot. But no. You knew this was My chamber. That's why you tried to leave." He flinched, as if trying to ward off the words that were eventually going to come, and no matter how much he tried to ignore them, her words would pierce into his mind painfully. Don't go on. Don't tell me. Don't remind me of what I did.

"This is where I was. Further down, that's where SHE was. In an elevator. About to leave. To her freedom she always wanted ever since she could remember. So close."

Don't say it-

"Until you came along." He flinched horribly, and his optics shrunk drastically, avoiding Her gaze as her voice became colder. "I'm not saying this in Her defense. I say it because you took a lot of things away from my facility, including the death of that lunatic. I was put in a potato and half-eaten because of you. I had to watch my whole facility break down when you controlled it. Of course, I don't expect you to understand.

You're a moron."

The words burned through him, and his small pupils started to tremble slightly as he felt a burning sensation in the pit of his stomach. "I am. NOT. A. MORON!" He said it in a snap, glaring up at Her. Once he locked eyes with Her indifferent ones, he faltered. "I had enough time in space to think about that. And I'm sorry about everything. I truly-"

"Sorry doesn't help the year I spent making this facility _fully_-_functional _again, idiot." Her eyes narrowed and she scoffed. Her head tilted away as she spoke, and he stole a glance at her dimly-lit figure, watching her walk along the curve of the room.

"I, I know that, I just..." He sighed softly, and looked away. There was a pause before he spoke again. "I don't know."

"I don't expect anything else from you."

He didn't know how to reply to that. He remained quiet. His eyes wandered up, and followed the wires up on her neck, towards the ceiling. His optics widened slightly as he noticed some of the vegetation from Her Awakening were still there, perhaps still wrapping around Her wires from a crack from above.

That's when he saw the red berry thing. He didn't know what exactly it was, but he had read up on something alike to that when he was in Her chassis. A...a mistletoe? Was it that time of year already? He was gone for roughly a year, but he didn't take notice of what season it was now when he was a flaming ball coming back into the atmosphere.

He racked his mind to recall where that was from, and he jolted with a start when he noticed she had gotten closer, glowering at him with a disdainful expression. "I hope you know you aren't supposed to stay there either. Unless you want me to personally kick you out?"

He dismissed her words, and pointed up. "Th..that red berry thing there, with the other cluster of those things, are they.?"

She was annoyed when he ignored her, and her head tilted up to look at what he was talking about in a mocking manner. "Mistletoe? Well, what do you know. Yes, I suppose it is. Why should I care? It's not like I'm going to-"

"-Kiss me? Oh! It's the plant that humans made to give people kisses! I remember now! If you're caught under a mistletoe-"

"I'm not going to kiss a moron like you! It's not happening." Her optics sharpened and narrowed in dangerous slits, but the moron seemed to be beaming. The idea seemed to make him burst with joy as he succeeded in remembering something from a year ago. He hardly seemed to mind Her denial. Or Her annoyance.

"Ooh, what's wrong luv? You can't stand 'moron germs?' Cooties? Why not? Is it because you're too shy? You don't know how to kiss?" He was blabbering on, riding on the happiness that shone brightly in his optics. He couldn't seem to shut up, and he didn't look like he had any plans too. "Oh come on, luv, why aren't you willing to do it? It could be for Science, if you wanted, just to see if that human tradition _does_ make something happen, or-Or! That I am, in fact, NOT a moron, and that I might be, a considerably better kisser than the Central Core herself!"

She was staring at him irritably, unamused at how he seemed so full of himself. "I-What are you even-"

"You know it's true, luv! Why wouldn't you simply just, it's honestly a peck on the lips, and that's it! A simple peck, really! What could go wrong? Oh-oh I know! You could be beaten by, a considerably, charming, moron." He smiled widely, a moronic grin spreading on his lips. He was so full of himself, on his speech that he made, solely on the fact that he, not-a-moron, didn't fail to remember something. That will definitely show Her!

She remained unamused as he continued, and her hands clenched and unclenched. She rolled her eyes. The moron actually thought-

"Here, if you aren't willing to prove that you will be, in fact, beaten by a moron, then why not take the steering wheel of control now? Eh? Could a moron do this?"

She looked at him sharply. What was he planning to-

His face was in front of her for a second, and his lips pecked Hers, emitting a spark between their lips and he pulled back, grinning like an idiot. "Could he? Could a moron do th-aa-ah- eheh...I...I might have pulled that a bit far-" His optics shrunk when it finally dawned on him that She looked genuinely annoyed before he leaned over, and he suddenly realized what he had done. "Oh, nononno, I..I didn't-"

He felt the room drop drastically in temperature. He looked at Her shocked expression slowly turn into one of anger. It was a strange pinkish color, but that quickly faded when her lips pulled into a frown, then a sneer. Her yellow eyes glowed brighter, and he visibly shrunk.

Oh god, he was a _goner_.

"To answer your question, a moron _can_ do that. A moron could _have_ the genuine _GUTS_ to do anything idiotic, and hey, look what you did. You decided to do the most horrible thing you could possibly imagine. Well done."

He heard her processors hum and lower into a low-pitched growl, and he backed away, fearfully. He was a moron. An idiot. Why did he even open his mouth? It would have been better if he was quiet. He should have ended himself then when he was in Her claws so his core would have broken. He didn't want to be here. She was angry, and he was to be punished.

And by God, he was going to pay for it.

A claw snatched him up from behind and he yelped, moving in a frenzy to get down. "I-I can explain!" He didn't know what he was saying.

"There's nothing left to explain. Goodbye."

The claw moved and he squirmed frantically, and almost screamed when he saw where She was taking him. "NO! NOT THE INCINERATOR! PLEASE! PLEASE-"

"Goodbye." And that was the last thing he heard until his stomach rose in his throat in the sickening drop, and wind tore at his face.


	5. Chapter Five

That idiot.

The facility had been dark for days now, and the bots decided to stay out of their ways to be on their best behavior to avoid Her wrath. They wandered to the next chambers without so much but a glance at each other, dismissing their usual routinely high-five at the exit as a hazard. They grew tired after a few days, running around and completing yet another test. They paused for a moment to raise their hands, and then eyed the camera above them critically. Their optics glowed and flickered as they thought for a second, and then Orange hesitantly moved his hand down right before Blue spun and slapped his hand. Blue stumbled past orange for two or three steps, chattering confusedly at Orange's sudden denial. Blue elbowed Orange, pushing them to answer why they did it, but Orange shrugged them off and trudged ahead. Blue's broad shoulders slumped and his optic rolled, settling on the red lens of the camera. He gazed at it curiously for a moment, wondering what could possibly make Her so upset for such a long period of time. Then again, he thought, moving quickly to the elevator, if She was that upset, he had to avoid making her direct her anger towards him.

That idiotic metal ball of a moron.

Her chamber was dimly-lit, and the computer screens seemed to be an eerie white as they glowed. Her processors were humming in a low growl, and server lights were flickering with more impatience than usual. Her hands moved in a blur over the keyboard, and the series of clicks never seemed to end. Her eyes were glued to the screen, watching the commands being written and the test chamber cameras tracking every subject's progress.

And then there was his voice that came up every once and a while to see how he liked falling through the chutes, having passed turrets and narrowly dodging their bullets. "Oi, luv, could you-AH!" "I need some help over here, they won't stop shooting-" "Luv, hey. luv? Can...can you hear me? My ears are ringing horribly...luv?"

"Are you not answering because of the 'luv' bit? Oh, come on luv, I swear I'll s- Oh."

"Alright listen, I'll promise to stop calling you luv, if, and here's the big word, IF you let me out of here, right? Just, get me out o' here. I don't care how you do it, I just- ARRUUGHHH!" Another horde of bullets showered around him. A dozen of high-pitched voices sang out in unison. "Target acquired."

"ALRIGHT! OKAY! I'll take that as a, as a no from you, luv. An absolute-GAHHH_Alright, LOOK, CAN YOU PlEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE?"

Connection Severed

A cold smile spread itself on her lips as she sighed, and continued typing. Her eyes glanced at the top of the screen. He had been through that for about nine hours now. She opened another tab and located where he was in the chute. He was close enough. She redirected the chute to Her chamber, and turned around in Her chair as she waited.

:...Deploying Core in three, two, one._

"OOF!"

"Right on cue." She commented sarcastically, glancing at the moron's collapsed body in mild disgust. "I hope you learned your lesson, because that's just one of the punishments I'll ever give you." The moron didn't stir, and he didn't reply either. Her yellow eyes narrowed as she stood up, walking to him and kneeling down. He was curled up in some sort of ball. Her retina told her what she already knew.

"I..Haha...I kind of got...s-shot, luv-Erm, I mean.."

She had the claws grab him by the collar and yank him up, and he screamed as he was lifted, hands covering the bloody wound on his side. She gazed at it with mild curiosity, and snapped her fingers. He immediately fell limp in the claws grip. Unconscious. her hands moved over his wound, and her head tilted to get a better view. The bullet was in there, and the blood stain on his shirt was the size of her hand. She eyed his face warily before turning around and having the claw set him down, and lifting up his shirt to remove the damage done to his chest plate. Wires needed to be replaced...blood must be pumped back into his artificial heart...

She scoffed and let her claws work on him as she checked on the test subjects. The moron was not allowed to die. He simply wasn't. He couldn't be killed by a turret, either.

The killing part was Her job.


	6. Chapter Six

A dullness set in, darkness settling in the center of his mind and clouding over everything that seemed to happen. One of his blue optics opened, the broken fragment seemingly more prominent.

His sound processors made a weak click until the faint hiss of breath that came out of his mouth sounded into a groan, and he rolled onto his side. His left shoulder seemed to be unable to move, due to the unknown aid She had given him, and if he tried, it send a painful throb to his neck. He tried to assess more of the damage that had happened to him towards the end of the Fall before he was knocked out, and quickly found out that his left knee was almost locked in place in an odd bent angle. The right way, thankfully, and not the wrong way. He moved and struggled to sit up, beads of sweat collecting on his forehead as a pallor came across his expression. He fell against a wall next to him, making him shout in agony as he stood up. He shut his eyes as he regained his breath, and finally opened them. It was dark.

Why was he in this bloody hell anyways?

Ooh. Right. She dropped him in here. The reason was blurry to him. He had...talked...walked into Her chamber and they were talking and then..

Berries.

Realization hit him quickly, and almost sent the world spinning again. His optics flickered in alarm, shrinking as his lips made a small phantom tinge where their lips had sparked against each other's. It was only a peck too.

He covered his face with one hand after taking his glasses, frowning and shaking his head as he held the glasses in his other hand. "No reason to think about /that,/ mate, eh? What on earth made ya think about kissing HER? Of all people! HER!" He sighed loudly, unbelievingly.

He almost screamed when the room shifted. It was almost like taking a breath, feeling the panels beneath him move up and then settled back down, buzzing softly with electricity. He breathed shallowly as he heard the intercom connect to the room's speakers. A soft beep.

It was then that he finally remembered that he had been shot, fatally wounded most likely, but why was he here again? Unless...

"Well you're awake. A bit disappointing. I hoped that fall would have killed you. The lunatic made it, but she was a lunatic. You on the other hand...

Well, you weren't expected to survive."

The Voice was as chilling as always, though a small pit in his chest seemed to grow cold. Not that he always felt a tremor of terror at any mention of Her, but this was something new. I was almost as if the kiss had never happened. That should be good right? Then why did he feel so disturbed by it? He could almost see the pale android in front of him, arms crossed, everything simply perfect, except the unpleasant look of hatred she gave him. And the spark.

He shook his head slowly, laughing nervously, and shuffling his feet even though he couldn't back up anymore. "I-I did-n't thin-k I'd b-be alive either, l-luv, to be q-quite honest.."

"Oh, I can assure you that it isn't a problem. Because after what you did, you won't be living to how long I originally intended to keep you."

The moron winced, frightened smile faltering into a trembling frown. "O-oh." That small word trailed off into a soft helpless whisper as his blue optics fixed their gaze on the red lens of the camera.

"Oh. And by the way. I brought you back here, in case you didn't already notice. You left quite a lot of blood in my Chamber. But I did a pretty good job seeing as it hasn't dawned on you yet."

The panels took another breath before he saw the walls move and open forward, letting him see the small beams that aligned themselves parallel with the sides until his eyes were pulled to Her two glowing orbs of light.

Her face was as stoic as always, painfully so, as he knew, as unreadable ad it was, it was seeping with boiling rage. He would much prefer having her lash out at him, make her facility boom and thrash with Her anger, but she took the startlingly dangerous route.

A cold, icy anger that was obvious in her demeanor, but her presence always intimidated others, and so it made him unsure whether she was actually angry, but he couldn't let his guard down. Her unreadable expression could only tell him one thing. The unexpected will not be pleasant. It often never was, and if She was there, the 'often' was scratched out and it turned into the simple statement of it never being pleasant.

The android in front of him expressed what he always associated with Her voice, chilling ill-expressed, the lack of a smile on her lips, the cold gaze that still seemed more prominent in her eyes, and was adorned by her features, only to help the feeling that her glare was shooting daggers at him.

His knees almost gave way, and his left shoulder throbbed when the wall barely made contact. He let out a loud shout, making him almost crumble to the ground in pain. She had fixed him, of course, but She made sure to leave him with disabilities to make it so much easier to see him writhe in pain. A soft snicker was heard in front of him. "I sincerely hoped that you would have something like this." The words echoed softly, almost as if she was whispering in his ear, and had the same effect. The hair at the back of his neck rose, and he looked up to see Her walk towards him through slitted eyes. He struggled to straighten, but her slender hand suddenly pushed him back against the wall, and he screamed as a knife of pain stabbed his shoulder and spread up to his neck. He shut his eyes, making panicked huffs as static threatened to fill his sound processors. His mind felt like it was melting, and he saw dark circles faltering in his eyes. He was going to pass out.

"Despite me being so kind as to let you live after bothering me during your punishment, you still continue to give me trouble. You know, someone would have already killed you by mow if they experienced what you did to me. But luckily, I'm a bigger person than that. And you know what? I'll still be helping you."

Her voice was swimming in his mind, and he clung onto the cold drone of it, trying to stay awake in a hopeless attempt of finding out what she'd do. It was painful curiosity. Because expecting something would help him cope with it for the second before She killed him, whether as not knowing when She'd kill him would be adding the element of surprise. And that was never good.

He felt his sound processors break into static as he let out a howling scream, feeling her hand push at his shoulder. He felt the artificial bones grate against each other, and he realized that a claw was ready to clamp on to his shoulder. His blue optics widened.

And the world became a dark void after a loud crack was heard.


	7. Chapter Seven

Crushing was too good for him.

Yes, those were the exact words that She had said to the lunatic once, when she had been a potato battery stuck on the dual portal device. And that was the exact line that echoed in her mind right now, as she sat beside the unconscious android. His glasses were crooked on his face, giving the idiot's face the impression that he was even more moronic than he already looked. His hands were curled in loose fists by his sides, twitching every once and a while as his system slowly mended itself. Part one of his punishment was done. It was only a matter of time before she figured out the rest.

But watching the moron was not part of her day. She soon stood up and walked away, leaving the idiot to regain his consciousness without her looking over him. Which, in that case, benefitted both of them. She had more important terms to get to.

Until, of course, the moron had bad timing.

A wheezing cough was heard behind her, and she turned, seeing him open his eyes in the narrowest crack. She rolled her eyes and turned towards him slowly, giving him a look of indifference. He saw Her-she could see the realization burn in his eyes-and he knew he wasn't in space. The moron knew the facility was better than the vast darkness that lied out there, threatening to suck him farther and farther from the place called Earth. Hopeless. He was in a settled area, pressed firmly to the panel that held him by gravity. Nothing could let him slip out into that empty void in the sky. Nothing but Her.

He flinched visibly, sitting upright and waiting for pain to throb somewhere in his body. Nothing happened. He blinked, making his shrunken optics return to normal orbs in his eyes. A relived laugh escaped his lips in short gasps. "Haha! Will you look at-Look! I'm alive! I'm not hurting!" His mind automatically made him congratulate his success to being alive this long aloud, and he was reduced to a small ball as he glanced up at Her. His laughter died down to a nervous chuckle. "W-ell hello the-re, luv.."

No response. Wheatley would have sincerely wish She had said something, insult him, or even say the good old 'moron' once, instead of receiving that dead silence. She was planning something. He gulped, and the android swung his feet from the edge of the panel, letting his feet touch the cold smooth surface of the floor. She didn't so much as stir. Her yellow eyes were still trained to his face. "So you're alright. I guess that might be enough punishment."

Wheatley was ready to sigh in relief until she said, "Physically, of course." His blue eyes looked at her sharply, horror visible on his face. That didn't sound good. "Ph-ysically...? What-what do you mean by that?" It was then that she smiled.

It was not the smile he had previously wished the android to have that would have adorned her features. It was something else. This smile was the one that he had always imagined she used when she wanted to make sure people felt that she had cornered them, the smile she used when she knew she won.

Catlike, almost.

"I didn't think you would know what I meant anyways. But I do have one tiny hint that could mean a lot to you." He tensed up, looking at her as if it was painful. Her yellow eyes seemed to burn into his mind, and he suddenly didn't want to hear what she had to say. He rose his hand in front of him, shielding himself from an inevitable blow.

"Space."

The word hit him like a jarring blow to the stomach, making the android double up and hug his shaking figure, staring at his lap in horror. His eyes were glassy, distant as he remembered the black abyss, the weightlessness he felt as he spun slowly in space. Where, he didn't know, he only knew of the hopelessness that remained in his heart, the guilt that rose in him like an acid, boiling the depths of his artificial heart. And more than that, he knew the Lady couldn't hear him, and probably never will. His blue optics shrunk ad he remembered the loneliness that settled in his small compact body, the feeling that grew unbearable even if the core orbiting around him was blabbering on about space. He was completely oblivious of him, and it was no help to hear a voice out there that wouldn't listen to him. Like everyone else. And now that he came here, there was a part of him that sparked, a part of him that actually thought he would be listened to now, that his time in isolation made others notice his absence. Bur he knew it was silly. There was no one with a logical thought process except Her. And She hated him. The other cores regarded him coolly as an idiot, yet their obsessive blabbering was intolerable to him. How could they rant on about something so redundant? At least a moron could talk about a multitude of things, not simply going off about one thing. But that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that he was here, and as long as he was near Her, She would make him regret not staying in space.

She was amused at how the moron had been ready to shriek, quickly doubling up into a ball. She chuckled softly, bending down and leaning forward to seeing the wavering, distant blue eyes. "That was the hint. Though I didn't think it would give you that much of a reaction." She sneered, and she straightened, slowly lifting her arm upwards, and the moron flinched, slowly uncurling to look up at the sudden whirring that filled the chamber. It sounded horribly familiar, pulling at his heart with unease.

Oh no.

The dark ceiling had moved a significant amount of panels, and his eyes widened, letting the white light reflect on the lens of his eyes.

It was the moon. It was the moon.

It was the moon. The sky. Stars.

S-

Sp-

Space.


	8. Chapter Eight

The painful pang of loneliness was not one in which he expected to feel, at least, not strongly. It was an unwanted experience, one he never wanted to relive. He did not want to raise his eyes to meet the same moon that he had made the Lady look at, he did not want to let out a mournful and terrified shriek of horror, he did not want to experience the feeling that the sky would swallow him back to the empty void he had been in for almost a year, to crumble in a heap of fright when the ground almost seemed to disappear underneath him when his gaze locked on the large, glowing, spherical orb in the sky.

He managed to shut his eyes to stop himself from shrieking, and he trembled as he crumpled to the ground, and curled up into a ball. His breaths were shaky and airy, as if his sound processors were only rasping out air instead of actual noise. His hands were in his dark hair, clenching at it in such a manner that suggested he thought he would lose himself if he was not clinging into anything. He would be paralyzed if he looked up anymore, and he couldn't stand to be humiliated anymore than he supposed She would do.

He expected Her to laugh. He expected the stinging insults to get to him, to echo in his ears in cruel laughter.

That was not the case.

A hand grabbed his chin roughly and jerked it upwards, and his blue optics opened in shock, and his eyes wavered from the sky to Her yellow eyes. Her eyes shone in contrast with the shadow and darkness of the sky behind her, illuminating her sharp, pale features as he fought the instinct to scream. A sickening drop was felt into his stomach as his eyes almost darted to the sky, but he focused on her eyes, focused on the brilliant orbs that sparked with intelligence and-  
>It was then that he was forced to look higher, and strain his neck to obey the next jerk that she gave his chin.<br>He took a deep, loud breath as his blue eyes shrunk and he accidentally let the breath go as he stared back up, leaving him to fight for his breath. His hands reached up to grab at her arm, a strangled cry erupting from his mouth as he gazed up at the dark sky. If it was not for her arm, he would have convinced himself of being lost up there forever again.  
>After what seemed like ages of tormented agony, the steel hand let go of his chin, and his whole body crumpled to the previous ball it had been. He laid there, shaking, slowly taking deep breaths at her feet. The yellow-eyed android peered at him for a moment, and once seemingly satisfied with how the experiment had gone, turned on her heels and started to walk away.<br>The moron looked at her retreating feet with confusion, "wh-Why would you d-do THaT?"

"To see if you were still terrified of it. Or more specifically, see if you even had a reaction to Space. I never dreamed it would be that bad." A cold chuckle followed, and the poor idiot trembled slightly as he regained enough strength to sit up. She was still walking away.

"W-where are you goin'? You, you aren't leavin' me here alone are you..?"

"That's exactly what I plan to do." The doors slid open and the moron strained himself to get up, clumsily, and try to follow. She glanced over her shoulder as the doors began closing. "Good luck."

Slam.

The doors locked with a soft hiss and he fell, left on his knees as he shook uncontrollably. He didn't want to stay here. He did not want to stay here, locked up in a room that had the sky threatening to swallow him whole again.

He didn't want to.

The moron opened his eyes slowly and wavered his gaze as he stared at the walls and shifted his gaze slowly to the ceiling.

He blinked, and raised his eyes. The ceiling was closed. There was only the dark ceiling above him.

No space.

The intercom came on, and he knew very well what made her scoff.

"You idiot."

: Author's Note._

: I'm terribly sorry I haven't updated. I have been on winter break during December, and I've been battling some anxiety attacks as deadlines come up and sports have games for me to go to. I have to sort all of this out, but I've been getting better at managing things as days go on. Thank you for being patient, though. It means the world to me.


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